What is an American

J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur. 1782 --

"What then is the American, this new man?...He is an American, who, leaving
behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new
mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. He has become an American by being received in the broad lap of our great Alma Mater. Here individuals of all races are melted into a new race of man, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world. Americans are the western pilgrims. (from "Letter III," 1782)"

Is this still applicable in 2015?

I'm STILL pondering this post.. GOOD thought provoking topic.

oops

I don't believe America is a "melting pot" anymore because not enough people want to call themselves American... maybe a hyphenated American, but that implies that they are not as one with all other Americans. Instead of a melting pot, I believe we are more like a multi-cultural/multi-racial buffet. I'm all for cultural and racial diversity, but I also believe our home team should be America and not the country we decided to leave. Call it patriotism or whatever, but if we continue to split apart into racial or cultural groups that put America second, the demise of this great country is guaranteed imo.

Yeah, the melting pot has cooled down. I'm a direct result of the melting pot - Irish name, Scottish, German, Native American, Welsh, and Middle Eastern roots. My parents told me to answer the question "Where are your ancestors from?" with one of the following: "Yes", "I'm Heinz 57, an all American boy", or "South Dakota".

Part of coming to America used to be an assumption that you would become an American. Not hyphenated, not with some split loyalty to an other country, but all out American.

Until we get that back, we're going to continue to split and fracture. "United we stand" is currently a hollow phrase.

BUT, many decades ago, didn't the Italian community stick together, didn't the Jewish community do the
same,didn't the Irish immigrants all cluster together in "their" section of the city/town? Upon arriving in America, wasn't comfort/security and the SAME culture part of the "new" American experience?

I have ONLY lived in Alaska and Colorado,the east coast and the diversity that was found there is NOT part of my life experience....so I am asking....didn't the immigrants find their own "community",yet were willing to work incredible hard and long to make their dreams a reality. It seems to me that has NOT changed...Ellis Island was the entrance to enhancing an individual's existence. THAT has not changed,altho Ellis is empty now.....the "dream" of doing better is a constant.

Wow.

I spend a lot of time, pondering this topic, as my grown daughters become part of Society and consider bringing children into the world themselves, and to complicate the issue my elder daughter has fallen in love with a Canadian citizen! and run into some barriers that did not previously exist or that were not enforced as stringently, anyway, in a previous time.

My impressions have been several and like HomeAgain's first post, I would need time to prioritize them and even sort them through more effectively. In random order, they have been these:

That the states are so big that they are countries.

That the nation consists of state countries as opposed to a single state with counties within it.

That there are some philosophical collisions between the interests of the respective states, as well as between the respective states (or close to a majority of them, as it dips and sways from time to time) and the federal entity consisting of the collective of country-states.

That European and other communities have kept themselves together by having a unified language, border, customs, religion and usually a governing body that is NOT an elected force.

That Jews largely populated the country and other "discarded members of society" while there is still anti-semitism alive throughout the world and especially in parts of the USA.

That the country is politically divided in regard to USA's support of Israel.

That there are more close community protections within the boundaries of a well-established "state country" such that it has national figures, holidays, celebrations, a language, an identity, and the other stuff that "historic countries" have which is necessary considering the sheer land space. The notion we could still be a social collective with really large tracts of land between us? was not realistic and has resulted in a fragmenting away of social interests.

There are lots of psychopaths and narcissists in USA while there are few of them in protected communities and societies where their anti-social behaviors stick out and they've no place else to go. Without accusing anyone of homicide, it is my understanding that (for instance) if someone is not a cooperative member of society in certain portions of Iceland or Africa, that person simply does not return from the ice flow or savanna and oh well! it is not as though he will be missed. So the influence, obviously, is to survive and that means: GET ALONG.

In Unity there is Survival and otherwise, not. We are isolated personalities but must find cohesion sufficient to withstand attack -- and should not have to BE attacked in order to observe the Truth of this.

As for answers .....I have none. Hic, oh gee! look I even found an icon for my ANSWERS, two of them even. Sign me COLD and FISHING DEEP.

Hopefully we never follow the French model where immigrants enter the country with no intention of ever assimilating into the fabric of the population. Do we have any no-go-zones in the US yet? Maybe it will just take more time... probably starts in California or even Minnesota.

This is what happens when a country becomes too welcoming, too accepting, too PC...

Muslims segregated from French society in growing Islamist mini-states

A backdrop to the massacre in Paris on Wednesday by self-professed al Qaeda terrorists is that city officials have increasingly ceded control of heavily Muslim neighborhoods to Islamists, block by block.

France has Europe’s largest population of Muslims, some of whom talk openly of ruling the country one day and casting aside Western legal systems for harsh, Islam-based Shariah law.

“The situation is out of control, and it is not reversible,” said Soeren Kern, an analyst at the Gatestone Institute and author of annual reports on the “Islamization of France.”

“Islam is a permanent part of France now. It is not going away,” Mr. Kern said. “I think the future looks very bleak. The problem is a lot of these younger-generation Muslims are not integrating into French society. Although they are French citizens, they don’t really have a future in French society. They feel very alienated from France. This is why radical Islam is so attractive because it gives them a sense of meaning in their life.”

www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/7/...w-into-problem-out-/